"Nuclear alerting would start at the first hints of a crisis in which decision makers foresee possible military escalation".<--Our first datapoint for this occured during Balakot. During Doklam Arihant was still undergoing repairs.
https://twitter.com/Yogeshjoshidec1/status/1243321355883307009
Of course, while Arihant may have been out during various periods of the Balakot crisis, we still don't know if nuclear warheads were mated.
And another question, was Arihant able to accept the K-4 in some form or fashion? A report in 2016 suggested that the K-4 was tested onboard the Arihant. How? We don't know. But subsequent tests went back to the pontoon.
Imagery from 2016 suggested that the Arihant was out at sea during the tests.
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